Judge blocks Trump suit for Michigan voter rolls

Voting in Michigan — Federal judges in Oregon and California have dismissed similar Trump administration lawsuits (Image credit: Adam James Dewey / Anadolu via Getty Images)

What happened

A federal judge in Michigan Tuesday rejected the Trump administration’s effort to compel the state to turn over its unredacted voter rolls. U.S. District Judge Hala Jarbou said the three laws cited by the Justice Department in its lawsuit “do not allow the United States to obtain the records at issue in this case.” Federal judges in Oregon and California have dismissed similar Trump administration lawsuits to obtain full voter records.

Who said what

The ruling by Jarbou, appointed by President Donald Trump, was “restrained” in tone, The New York Times said, but the judges in Oregon and California “used their opinions to issue explicit warnings that, in their view, the Trump administration could not be trusted, and its efforts to centralize the electoral process pose a serious risk.” U.S. elections, as stipulated in the Constitution, are administered at the state and local level.

A federal judge in Georgia last month also dismissed Trump’s voter roll demand on procedural grounds, but the FBI then seized that voter information in Atlanta’s Fulton County. According to an affidavit released Tuesday, the FBI “relied heavily on previously debunked claims of widespread election irregularities” in Trump’s 2020 loss to justify its raid, The Washington Post said.

What next?

“At least 11 states have either provided or said they will provide their full statewide voter registration lists, including driver’s license and Social Security numbers,” the Brennan Center for Justice said. The Trump administration has sued at least 23 states and the District of Columbia to obtain that information, but the rulings in Michigan, Oregon and California “offer an early indication of how the Justice Department’s nationwide quest to essentially establish a national voting database” may be “running into significant headwinds from the judiciary,” the Times said.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.